by J. C. Nelson
“I was going to have lunch with my prince.” Ari crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Grimm took off the heavy black glasses he wore, revealing eyebrows like a yeti. “Young lady, I’m sorry. We require your assistance. I’ll make it up to you. Reservations to anywhere in the city.”
“What exactly are we supposed to be doing?” I went around to my desk and opened my ammo drawer.
“Marissa, you always say I never let you travel for business. I think today I’ll correct that. You are going to visit another realm.” Grimm’s calm smile left me worried.
I’d traveled to other realms. Inferno, a few times. It was better than the Department of Licensing. I’d been to a fairy’s realm as well, and would rather not go back. “Which one? Avalon? Say Avalon. Or Atlantis.”
Grimm looked down. “Nowhere near as extravagant. We’ve suffered an influx of goblins for the last few weeks, and I would like to check the health of the realm seal.”
Of course. The realm seal, if it looked like the others, was a giant ball of lightning that acted as a barrier. Grimm couldn’t go himself, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t send others. “I don’t want to go to the Forest. I want to go to Avalon.”
“You don’t have enough frequent-flier miles built up, but we’ll talk about it afterward. Meet me at the portal in fifteen minutes.” Grimm faded out.
“You’ll get to shoot some goblins, and I’ll be that much happier to see Wyatt tonight.” That was Ari, always trying to salvage a bad situation.
“There’s no point in shooting goblins. They’re dumber than the bullets in my gun. As a matter of fact, I’d bet on the bullets—”
Grimm appeared in a burst of light in every reflective surface in my office. He spoke from all of them at once. “Code Mauve, Marissa. I need you immediately in my office. Alone.” Grimm kept his tone calm, his eyes fixed on me. Not good.
I ran down the hall, threw open the door, ready for murder, mayhem, or destruction. The air conditioner’s hum competed with the murmur of the crowds in the waiting room for loudest noise. “Yes?”
Grimm appeared in his mirror, his regular gray silk suit changed out for black, his look stern. He ignored me, keeping his eyes on the high-back chair, where I noticed two feet in penny loafers.
“Ah, so good of you to come at once.” I knew the voice. Knew the man, if you could call him that.
I shut the door behind me. “Nick.” Nickolas Scratch. The Adversary. King of demons, ruler of Inferno, and first-order paper pusher.
He rose from his chair, barely as tall as me, with heavy wrinkles around his eyes and a bald spot that could blind a girl. “I hate to bother you, Marissa. I really do, but I have a problem, and your driver’s license doesn’t expire for another two years.” The Adversary’s second job, at the Department of Licensing, allowed him to be truly evil.
I chose my words with care. “Anything that’s bothering you is way out of my league. I’m trying to pick on things my own size.” Refusing the Adversary directly could be bad, but not, in my book, as bad as agreeing to help him.
Nick walked over, putting one hand on my shoulder. “I know. I wouldn’t ask, but I don’t have anywhere else to turn. There’s been a theft.”
Grimm disappeared in a flash, leaving me alone. And for once, I didn’t feel abandoned. Grimm had mastered the art of foretelling the future in a dozen ways, all of them bloody enough to make me lose my lunch. I was convinced he secretly made no effort to evict the rabbits that infested his home, because they came in handy when a quick fortune needed to be told. Right now, I needed the knowledge he’d gain from slaughtering a few bunnies as much as he did.
“Where?”
“The Vault of Souls.” Nick’s eyes glowed like fireside embers as he spoke. “Think of it like a bank vault, only instead of your mortgage papers, or some certificates of deposit, I keep valuable things. Mass murderers. Tyrants. Genocidal maniacs.”
“Who broke out?” I slipped around the desk and sat down in Grimm’s chair.
Nick’s hands clenched, turning white, and he trembled with barely contained rage. “There’s never been a breakout. Someone broke into Inferno and took three souls from the vault.” With each word, the lights in the office flickered, as if each shadow siphoned away the light. I’d stood face-to-face with demons, dealt with the harbingers of the apocalypse, including Death himself, but the Adversary was so far out of my league I didn’t even pretend to threaten him.
“The angels did it?” The angels were the only creatures I could imagine being dumb enough to mount an attack on hell itself. Now would be a great time for Grimm to make an appearance. I’d gone toe-to-toe with demons and survived, but the Adversary could squash me like a bug if I said the wrong thing.
He rumbled like a thunderstorm. Anger or laughter, I couldn’t tell. “Are you kidding? They want most of the souls in the vault locked up just as much as I do. The two I want back were mine by right. Given to me freely.” Blood dripped from Nick’s hands as his nails cut into his palms. The blood drops burst into flames that licked the edges of his fingers.
For just a moment, my curiosity got the better of me. “Don’t you have armies? You know, the sort that you’d need to bring about the end of the world?”
The Lord of Destruction looked at me over his bifocals, his eyes round. “I can’t admit there’s been a lapse in security. My own children would rise up against me. So, you are going to retrieve those souls. If they’ve been lashed into another body, you have my permission to take them apart in any way you find convenient. Death will take care of bringing them back to me at that point.”
The friendly grin on Nick’s face made my spine tingle. “I’m sorry. I’m your girl if you need a pair of slippers returned, or a library book, but souls? Maybe Fairy Godfather can find them and—” The words got caught and strangled in my throat as Nick began to belch black smoke and sulfur.
“You will do it. If I don’t get them back, I’m going to start killing random people on the off chance that one of them has a soul I’m looking for. And you won’t have to find the two I’m after. They’re going to come for you, Marissa. I’d bet on it.”
I think his final words scared me more than his threats. “Who?”
For just a moment, Nickolas Scratch looked almost concerned. “An ex-queen and her son. Both of whom have issues with you.”
Where two seconds earlier I could have baked bread just by setting it on my desk, now beads of sweat formed on my head and I shivered. I knew who he meant—I had barely survived the last time she tried to kill me. Maybe they hadn’t meant to get her. Maybe—
“Marissa, don’t kid yourself.” The Adversary crossed his arms and shook his head. “That was no accident. There were murderers in that vault a thousand times more deadly; hell, Rip Van Winkle’s soul was in a Mason jar two shelves down.”
I nearly died at the hands of Rip Van Winkle, Kingdom’s own boogeyman. “Who was it that broke in? And who else did they take?” I couldn’t have moved from Grimm’s seat if I had to, wrapped in a spell of fear as I waited for an answer I dreaded.
“You should probably have that discussion with your Fairy Godfather.” He rubbed his hands together, extinguishing the flames. “I’ll see myself out, assuming that receptionist of yours doesn’t shoot me again. If she ever wants a night job, send her over. She’ll fit right in below.” Nick put his clipboard under his arm and marched out, leaving scorch marks on the carpet with each step.
I can’t tell you how many minutes passed until I felt Grimm’s presence in the mirror at my back. I didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Prince Mihail and his crazy mother were some of the few people who truly deserved their spots in Inferno. The thought of them out and about, watching, waiting—that I couldn’t stand.
“Marissa, I listened in on your conversation. You have a special rapport with the Adversary, and I felt it wiser to allow you to deal with him.”
“Is he telling the truth?”
“Yes, my dear. I’m afr
aid he is. I know in the past you’ve been reluctant to use deadly force, but in this case, I want you to shoot first, reload, and shoot again. Leave the question asking to me.” The concern in Grimm’s voice only amplified my fear. The Fairy Godfather feared nothing.
“We have to take care of Ari. Prince Mihail might come for her.” Mihail had meant to marry Ari. Then murder her.
“His mother won’t waste time on Ari or anyone else. I would comfort you, but fear will keep you alert. Alive. I have ordered Jess released from the hospital to accompany Arianna. Anywhere you go in this realm, Liam must remain with you at all times.”
The thought of half-djinn Jess roaming the streets of my city worried me almost as much as the Adversary’s threats. Jess was violent death given flesh when her bipolar medication wasn’t working—or when she wouldn’t take it, which was most of the time. Still, nothing and no one would dare come within ten feet of Ari with Jess at her side. Which meant I could spare a moment to worry for myself.
* * *
AN URGENT KNOCK on Grimm’s door roused me from my worry. Grimm himself had disappeared half an hour before, saying he needed to spend quality time divining the future. There’d be a food bank receiving donations of hasenpfeffer for days.
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.” I recognized Mikey’s voice through the oak door.
“Oh, all right.” I rose and unlocked the door, looking up to meet his eyes. “What?”
Mikey grabbed my arm, a move that would have earned him a silver bullet two years earlier, and dragged me along. “Emergency in the kitchen. You’re in charge.” He let go and sprinted off, rounding the corner like he’d just spotted a whitetail deer, or a cheerleader.
I followed him to the kitchen, throwing open the door and marching in, ready to lay down the law.
Darkness engulfed me, absolute darkness, as the door swung shut behind me, and the sounds of shallow breathing made my heart race.
“Surprise!” a hail of voices shouted, and the lights flickered on. A shiver ran from my feet to my ears. In the center of the table sat a cake with “Happy Bar Mitzvah, Joshua” written in pink gel frosting.
“I got it on clearance at the bakery.” Mikey reached out and lit a candle on the cake, oblivious to the terror in my eyes.
The kitchen door opened, and Liam shouted, “What idiot brought a cake? Grimm, we need you.” He banged on the wall so hard, it shook the door.
I heard the patter of light feet while I clenched my teeth and tried to look away. “It’s going to be okay, M.” Ari stepped forward. “Everyone out of the building. Move, people.” She barked orders while I struggled to contain the wave of nausea that made the world spin when I opened my eyes.
Grimm flashed into the microwave door, glanced around the room, and glowered at Mikey. “What exactly do you think you are doing?”
“Stairs.” Ari cupped her hands and shouted. “Only use the stairs. Remember what happened to the elevators last time?”
“Marissa, take a deep breath. Close your eyes.” Grimm’s voice calmed me, though the panic still swirled in my stomach like a gallon of cheap rum.
Liam snuffed out the candle and threw his jacket over the cake. “It’s fine, M. Nothing to see here. We’re all going to just go for a walk down the stairs, out onto the street, and take the day off.”
In the doorway, Svetlana tossed her blond hair in a contemptuous flip. Up until that moment, I hadn’t thought I could detest her more, but that one action said, “This? From her? Again?”
That’s when the sprinklers went off.
Then every light in the building went out at once.
A bubbling noise filled my ears, like some monster from the depths reached up out of the sewers, bringing with it the stench of rotten sheep entrails. From the floors above and below, cries of terror and disgust echoed from vents.
“Deep breaths. Eyes closed.” Liam put a rough hand on my face and pulled me toward him. “Mikey didn’t know.”
Mikey didn’t know. Didn’t know that I avoided every birthday, anniversary, wedding, or funeral for exactly the same reason. They all ended in disaster. If we were unlucky, it required the hazmat squad. If we were lucky, there’d only be a couple of feet of raw sewage flooding the building.
“Grimm, you’ve got to help me with this.” I pushed away from Liam as the emergency lighting came on, flooding the Agency with dull red glow.
“Marissa, everyone has situations in which things do not go well. Little things, where the universe reminds them they have better ways to spend their fleeting days.” Grimm spoke like a schoolteacher.
“Do you remember what happened when Ari baked me cupcakes for my birthday?”
Ari tromped back into the room, wearing yellow muck boots and carrying a matching parasol. “Asps. There were no asp eggs in the batter, Grimm. None. Would you like to guess how many cupcakes had asps in them when Marissa cut into them? What does that tell you?”
“It tells me cupcakes are bad for your figure. Now, if you don’t mind—” Grimm cut off, his eyes losing focus, then snapping wide open. “Ladies, I need you to check on that realm seal immediately. There isn’t a moment to waste.”
I followed Ari to the back of the Agency, where Grimm kept portal runes ground into the concrete, having long ago given up any pretense of getting his security deposit returned. This birthday was turning out as bad as the rest.
“Proceed directly along the path to the Seal; contact me when you arrive. Do not waste time shooting goblins.” Grimm stood in the full-length mirror, waiting. He looked to Liam. “Sir, I need your assistance as soon as the ladies have departed. We have a minor invasion to deal with.”
“You got it.” Liam rubbed his hands through his hair, wringing it out.
Svetlana stepped up behind him. “If my liege goes, it is my pleasure to assist.”
The portal lit up like a rainbow and solidified, revealing a land that looked like a barren fall landscape.
Grimm waved his hand like a host. “This is your stop. Please keep your hands and feet inside the portal, or a team of surgeons will be required to reattach them. I will reopen the gate once we have inspected the realm seal and understand what is wrong.”
Ari stepped through, appearing on the trail visible through the portal. The portal rippled and shook, like it was made of cold, clear water.
“That normal?” I studied Grimm’s face.
“Not exactly. Hurry, Marissa. There’s a tremor in the fabric of magic itself coming, which might strand Ari.” Grimm concentrated, his eyebrows arched.
I dashed forward, ducking down, and stepped across. As I did, the building shook again, and it felt like my insides twisted like a pretzel. Then a grip like iron seized my hand. Ari screamed. Liam cursed, and I disappeared into darkness.
J. C. Nelson is a software developer and ex-beekeeper residing in the Pacific Northwest with family and a few chickens. Visit the author online at authorjcnelson.com.
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!
